Acanthostega
Sign in to saveAcanthostega, from Ancient Greek ἄκανθα (ákantha), meaning "spine", and στέγη (stégē), meaning "roof", is an extinct genus of stem-tetrapod, among the first vertebrate animals to have recognizable limbs. It appeared in the late Devonian period (Famennian age) about 365 million years ago, and was anatomically intermediate between lobe-finned fishes and those that were able to come onto land.
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11 sectionsContents
- Discovery
- Description
- Classification
- Paleobiology
- Hunting strategy
- Lifestyle
- Development
- See also
- References
- Sources
- External links
Acanthostega, from Ancient Greek ἄκανθα (ákantha), meaning "spine", and στέγη (stégē), meaning "roof", is an extinct genus of stem-tetrapod, among the first vertebrate animals to have recognizable limbs. It appeared in the late Devonian period (Famennian age) about 365 million years ago, and was anatomically intermediate between lobe-finned fishes and those that were able to come onto land.
==Discovery== thumb|left|240px|Holotype skull, Zoological Museum of Copenhagen The fossilized remains are generally well preserved, with the famous fossil by which the significance of this species was discovered being found by Jennifer A. Clack in East Greenland in 1987, though fragments of the skull had been discovered in 1933 by Gunnar Säve-Söderbergh and Erik Jarvik.
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Devonian GreenlandDevonian sarcopterygians of North AmericaFossils of GreenlandFossil taxa described in 1952Late Devonian sarcopterygiansMonotypic prehistoric lobe-finned fish generaStegocephaliTaxonbars of monotypic genera missing species on WikidataTaxonbars of monotypic genera missing species on WikipediaTransitional fossils